Ornithology
by Jin Hikari
Summary: A series of brief glimpses into the lives of our two favorite birds.
1. Morning Tea

_So before any of this begins, I'd like to point out that I am in fact still planning on working on my Naruto fan fiction. However, I felt it was due time that I showed one of my favorite off-cannon pairings a little attention. It's also important to note that the format of these two short stories is entirely inspired by the work of EmaniaHill in her "It Only Takes a Moment" fic. I have grown very fond of vignettes since reading it, and I hope my little experiment can further send views her way._

* * *

Make no mistake, it hadn't been an easy decision deciding on the design of the Teen Titan's new place of residence. For one, the idea to make it into a giant T was much more noticeable a base of operations than some of them were used to. Sure, he understood that not every hideout could be a cave underneath the mansion of a billionaire, but there was a certain level of paranoia that came with working in Gotham under the Dark Knight, and somehow, residing in a giant, very obviously visible, T-shaped mansion with nothing separating them from the city but a few miles of water was enough to make the Boy Wonder's teeth grind at night.

As such, he'd taken to getting very little sleep those first few nights in the Tower, just to make sure no one was going to try to bust in. He didn't care how effective Cyborg's security system was. Every vault had a weak point, and there was always a criminal desperate enough to find it. Besides, running patrol with Batman hadn't exactly instilled habits of sleeping for long periods of time in him.

Still, there was a progressing pattern to the way his days went. He'd wake up at six if a mission hadn't already taken care of getting him out of bed, and then be down for breakfast by seven. Beast Boy wouldn't be down until noon unless he had to be, and by then lunch was already being served. Cyborg wasn't quite as early of a riser as Robin either, though at least he could be expected down for food before the hour hit double digits.

Starfire also seemed to be having a bit of trouble getting her sleep schedule together. Apparently, the days on Tamaran lasted longer than on Earth. Robin considered that for a second, and silently shuddered at the thought of his days seemingly accelerate before his eyes. There was a certain amount of respect that Starfire had to be given.

And then, of course, there was Raven.

Yawning as he emerged from his room, freshly showered and dressed in his uniform, the Boy Wonder didn't even have to think twice before reaching up into the cabinet over the sink while turning the burners on the stove on, water still in the kettle from the previous morning. Two cups were brought down, a soft thump against the tile of the countertop as he put them off to his left.

To his right, the coffee grinder stood in a corner next to the stove. He had grabbed the beans from the cupboard, a French blend that was his own personal favorite. He was glad that Cyborg was the only other coffee drinker of the bunch. Heaven knew what he'd have to do to Beast Boy if he caught the shape shifter drinking the last of the only thing that could thoroughly wake him up in the morning.

_'Probably the same thing Raven would do if she caught him drinking her tea. Or touching it, for that matter.'_

As if he'd just reminded himself of something, the masked boy snapped his fingers, reaching up with one hand back into the cupboard to draw a small purple box of tea bags down and setting them beside the coffee that had just finished grinding.

The rest of the preparations went smoothly enough, and no more than thirty seconds after the kettle had begun to whistle was there two mugs, one of tea and one of coffee, sitting right next to one another.

If he had been any less observant or aware of the rapidly developing patterns that his mornings were taking on, he would have thought the television had turned itself on and tuned into the local news station. Allowing himself a smirk, he sauntered over to the couch, setting the mug of tea down on the coffee table in front of Raven, making certain that one of the small, ceramic coasters that she'd bought just the other day was placed under it.

Had she not been covering half of her face with the book, he would have seen her lips curve upwards ever so slightly. Still, it wasn't like he didn't know he'd done his job correctly when she'd shifted the book over to one hand, grabbing the mug in front of her and sipping from it, her shoulders visibly relaxing as the liquid danced its way down her throat.

The fact that she didn't put it down was also a good sign as well.

"Am I to assume I've done well?" Robin asked, his voice cutting over the weather. It wasn't like he needed to hear that it was going to be a nice day when the view from the windows on either side of the television exposed the beautiful, cloudless sky.

That seemed to grab the girl's attention, her violet eyes shifting from the page and taking in his image, including the playful smirk he'd taken to wearing.

"It's a little too…" her voice trail off as if she was trying to find the right word. Robin's brow quirked, the smirk dropping to a more neutral expression, as if asking what it was he could have possibly done wrong.

"Full of itself," she finished, the amusement, while not entirely visible on her face, shone through very clearly in her eyes.

A wide grin set itself on his face, leaning his head back and laughing at himself internally for letting himself feel a little worked up about nothing.

"And just how would you suggest I go about fixing that?" he asked, a chuckle in his voice.

Her book lowered just enough so that he could see the contours of her smile as she turned to face him, the same mischievous glint in her eyes still.

"Practice makes perfect, Boy Blunder."

With that, she turned back to her original position on the couch, her book rising back up to cover her smile from his view, and the mug never leaving her hand. He'd just have to try again tomorrow, he supposed.

* * *

_Thanks for reading._


	2. Sunglasses

_And another one on the same day, just for good measure. I'll let review count and general popularity decide if I'm going to keep going down this road. If anything, it's nice to meddle around in a universe without trying to construct a coherent plot. Fluff is easy enough to write, after all._

* * *

A life of crime fighting had provided the Teen Titans with many important life lessons in a very short amount of time. They had learned the importance of being able to depend on other people – mostly one another, but also their friends off in Titans East and around the rest of the world as well. They learned things about themselves as people, about how they dealt with loss, betrayal, and defeat. However, they also learned about the joys of victory, the warmth that came from living with friends, and so many other wonderful things.

Still, Robin could have done without learning how to do his own laundry.

When he was younger, Alfred had been the one to take care of all the dirty clothes, the torn uniforms, and the lost pieces of everyday grooming equipment such as shampoo and deodorant for after those long, strenuous training sessions. Why, Robin was quite sure that should a laundry themed villain ever scheme to steal everyone's left sock, Alfred would be a better choice for the job than Batman himself.

Now, poor Dick Grayson was left alone in the tower of he now lived in to take care of his own personal hygiene. It was something he could manage, but every now and again he would always slip. He'd get caught up in a case, or sniff out some new lead on Slade, or even just run into more incidents on the job than he typically planned for. At that point in time, he'd have to rush to get another uniform clean, or replace a torn-up boot or cape in time for the next mission. What he'd run out of now, however, wasn't something that could be so easily rectified.

The middle drawer in his bedside dresser, previously filled to the brim with green spandex pants and masks, was now completely void of the latter. He grimaced, knowing he'd had at least two left in there not even yesterday. Yes, he did keep a habit of stocking more than one at any given time. The light adhesive that needed to be applied to keep it so well attached wore out if it was allowed to be drenched with too much sweat, and the absorbency of the material was nothing to ignore either. He didn't like a sweaty mask, so he was more than happy to keep some extras in stock. Now, however, he had no clean ones left.

The knock on his door followed by the hissing of the blasted thing opening was more than enough warning for the boy wonder to know that he shouldn't turn around, or else he'd risk being identified as the ward of the famous Gotham billionaire playboy. He really didn't need anyone figuring that out. Beast Boy was far too loose-lipped to handle that sort of a secret. Cyborg, while certainly better at keeping a lid on things, was the primary target for hackers like Gizmo who might go looking for information. Starfire was too naïve, too likely to let it slip without realizing, too…Starfire…to trust with that kind of a secret. Finally, Raven was…

"Dude, breakfast has been on the table for like ten minutes now. You gonna stick your beak out there and eat or what?" Beast Boy intoned, though Robin noted a slight amount of anticipation in his voice. Beast Boy had a penchant for pulling stunts like this, but certainly he wasn't foolish enough to…

"At least look at people when they're talking to you, man."

Oh, so that's how he wanted to play, was it?

"Say Beast Boy, you wouldn't have happened to see my last two clean masks lying around anywhere, would you?" the Boy Wonder asked, his tone dangerously level. Beast Boy froze up, his eyes shifting from side to side. Fortunately for him, Robin didn't notice that. Unfortunately for him, Robin _did_ notice the shakiness of the changeling's tone with the response.

"N-no man. Why would I? Don't you usually keep the things locked up in your dresser? Now come on, mask or not, a guy's gotta get his three squares a day."

Robin smirked. He had the mouse cornered now. All he had to do was slip in the last inkling of a threat, and he should have his masks returned to him by noon. The spiky haired male proceeded to draw a pair of sunglasses from another drawer, putting them over his eyes as he turned around.

"That's a shame. I guess I'll just have to put the team to work in the training room so I can look around for them or wait for my laundry to finish. I wouldn't want to be the thief if they'd been stolen and the culprit had been bragging about it earlier."

The sheer amount of visibility that the green boy's gulp had was enough to make an evil grin come to Robin's face. Oh yes, this was going to be fun indeed.

"I mean, I suppose if they reappeared somewhere before lunch that I wouldn't have to take care of something like that, but I suppose I'm just making wishes there."

Beast Boy's nod of affirmation only made it more fun for Robin to walk right on by him, leaving the boy stuck in the entryway to the room.

"Well, I'm gonna go eat. I hope Cyborg made waffles again. I love those things so much."

Breakfast had been an ordeal in and of itself. Robin, fully aware that just about anyone could see past the wire-framed and mirrored shades if they got any sort of a height advantage over him – which wasn't hard in the first place – had resorted to covering his whole face with the Sunday paper after dodging attempt after attempt from his teammates to get a peak of something he kept a secret from just about everyone else in the world.

Cyborg had tried to dish him up some waffles, taking time to drown them in syrup - just the way the boy liked them - while leering at the gap between face and frame. Robin had noticed the attempt, and took to turning away from the metal teen to engage in friendly conversation with Starfire.

Beast Boy had tried to get a good look from the ceiling as one of a plethora of his animal transformations, but that was when Robin had pulled the newspaper over to his side of the table and began leafing through it absentmindedly.

Even Starfire had made an attempt to get a peak, using her naturally bubbly nature to her advantage as she flitted all around him while floating in the air, speaking of things like the weather or a program she'd seen on television the night before. It was idle chat, but the attempt at the distraction didn't go unnoticed by the apprentice of the world's greatest detective.

Really, the boy was almost thankful that the nearly too familiar sound of the alarm resounded throughout the tower, red lights flashing overhead as the report came in on the main screen in the living room.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted reflexively. The team, seemingly giving up on the hunt for now, were quick to follow as he leapt to the elevator. A ride on the R-Cycle would clear his head right up, he bet.

It was just like the HIVE Five to pull off cliché things like robbing a bank. Sure, they'd gone about it in an interesting enough way. Jinx had been the front lines, casting her magic on anyone who got in the team's way. Gizmo had quickly hacked through all the electronic locks to the vault, and everyone had done their fair share of work to haul the pilfered valuables from scads of safety deposit boxes back to their hideout, but the fact that they were quite literally robbing a bank – one of the most overused examples of a crime in the history of crime itself – was just a bit too mundane in a sense.

They might have even made it back to their lair – no doubt hidden not very well in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town where they could wire the money to their Swiss bank accounts – had it not been for Robin racing by and nearly caving in the left side of Mammoth's face with the front wheel of the R-Cycle.

Vehicular assault, while typically frowned upon in the day-to-day routine of just about anyone, was no new thing for the Boy Wonder. Hell, the mantle of the Batman was nearly synonymous with a weaponized car and a belt full of gadgets and wingdings to play around with.

Still, the end result was the same as Robin had expected. Mammoth reeled back on this feet from the force of the impact, and as the motorcycle skidded to a halt just in front of Kyd Wykkid, Robin was quick to pounce on the darkly clad boy. The Boy Wonder had never personally bothered digging into why he had a particular distaste for this member of the criminal companions, but if he had to venture a guess it was because of his choice of costume. Not only did it bring up old memories of a mentor and father figure who was no longer a part of Robin's life, but he also tarnished that image by using it to commit criminal acts.

The so-called master of stealth – though Robin new that it would a cold day in hell when this boy could out-sneak the Batman – quickly darted inside a building, not caring to use a door or window as his powers simply allowed him to slip right through the solid stone like it was nothing but air. Needless to say, Robin was in quick pursuit of the boy, leaving the other members of the HIVE to the members of his team.

The team fought hard and performed well. No matter how well organized the plan was from the HIVE, Robin's quick strategic mind and his team's ingenuity would always allow them to come out on top. Of course, despite being a great strategist, Robin was also a showoff. He would much rather face the people he wanted to face – the strongest as well as the ones that ticked him off the most – in a one on one setting while his friends watched, but he also knew the importance of working as a time.

Still, working as a team sometimes meant 'back me up if I need it. Otherwise, sit back and watch the master at work,' to the spiky headed boy. This often meant that after he disposed of his choice within the HIVE Five, who was really numbering six nowadays, he'd go after whoever was left.

Walking out of the building while dragging a gagged, bound, and power-suppressed Kyd Wykkid by the end of his cape, the Boy Wonder scanned across the thankfully more brightly lit – it had been a pain tracking down the darkly clad boy in a poorly lit building while wearing sunglasses after all – city streets as he counted the remaining opponents.

Starfire and Raven had been quick to dispatch Gizmo and Jinx respectively, while See-more and Beast Boy were still squaring off, and the combination of Mammoth and Billy Numerous seemed to be pressing Cyborg – also a bit of a showoff – pretty hard.

The flying side kick that threw the gargantuan red-haired man into a nearby car quickly turned the tide in Cyborg's favor. Robin, landing curtly on the ground and brushing his hands together to remove the dust from his gloves, smirked at his handiwork before diving in with his staff broken into two Escrima sticks.

The proceeding fight appeared to be almost entirely one-sided as Robin pounded and pounded into the giant man, leaving dark red and purple areas where the force of his weapons were creating bruises on the tough skin of his opponent. However, Mammoth was not named the way he was simply for his immense strength. He also had surprising durability, and a temper that when set off would allow for a stampede.

Robin caught a hard left to the chest – the whole torso, really – and went rocketing back, only to be caught by a blue-clad sorceress and her black hued magic that allowed her to slip from her position and behind him in a flash.

Starfire lunged at the man, taking Robin's place briefly before the boy quickly returned. Or at least, he would have tried to do that had Raven's grip around his upper arms not tightened when he tried to move away.

"Let her handle it. She's more suited to be facing him than you," Raven said in little more than a mumble. Her words were directed at Robin, so he alone would be the one hearing them. The Boy Wonder, however, would not resign his battle to the Tamaranean or the wishes of the girl from Azarath that simply.

Swiftly, nimbly, gracefully he slipped from her clutches. The girl wasn't even sure how he'd done it, but she knew that one second she was holding him back and that the next an array of explosive disks were sticking themselves to Mammoth's chest, going off one after another before Robin was on him, running up his frame to land a kick that sent him into a backflip on the brute's chin.

Robin's staff was out in an instant, and just as he landed away from the stumbling man, he ran back into the fight. With the extra length on the bo, Robin's blows carried much more momentum and packed that much more of a punch. Soon, Mammoth was on the ground with his eyes rolled into the back of his head. He was unconscious.

Robin turned curtly, a smug grin on his face as he walked over to Raven. When he got close, he tilted his head down and his brows flew up across his forehead, furthering the cocky look he was going for.

"I think I'm suited for just about anything, actually," he returned in the same mumble she'd used before.

Raven paused for a moment, a moment in which Robin thought he'd surprised her with his combat skills. He was sure he'd won the argument, and his pride was swelling from his chest and into his throat. However, the impish smirk the amethyst eyed girl suddenly put on her face made him worry a little for her next retort.

"Your eyes are a very pretty shade of blue, Boy Blunder."

With that, she walked right past him, his shocked expression of realization informing her that he'd seen his mistake. By lowering his face and looking at her, he'd revealed his eyes through the top of his shades. Robin's posture straightened as he followed the other Titans back to their respective vehicles. He ignored the praise from Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire about his comeback against Mammoth, just as he ignored the sirens of the patrol cars that whizzed by as they came to pick up the HIVE Five.

Taking a deep breath as he mounted the R-Cycle, Robin decided that if he was going to trust anyone with his real appearance then it would be Raven. She had her own fair share of secrets she kept hidden well enough, after all. Still, it was rather bothersome that she'd probably take to lording this over him whenever she could.

Oh well. At least she'd said they were pretty.

* * *

_And with that, I've covered the two most popular themes behind this paring. Tea and Robin's eyes seem to be a big deal in the fandom, so I thought I might as well cater to the themes first and work my way from there. Feel free to tell me what you think._


End file.
